Ghost of Tekkadan
by havok038
Summary: For Ride Mass, his war never ended. Gjallarhorn took away his family, so he deprived them of their "heroes". Gaelio Bauduin, he gave a dog's death. He shamed Julieta Juris in the same manner she paraded Barbato's head. And finally, he made Rustal Elion stare down the muzzle of his justice. But the sly dog has a word or two to leave behind.


Author's thoughts:

I'm just doing this out of grudge against these three characters. While the ending was nice, I can't exactly get over it. The only one actually taking revenge after Tekkadan was dissolved was Ride. I'll be brutally honest, I didn't put much thought into this story and it was posted just to satisfy an itch. Hopefully, it did relieve something similar for you guys.

* * *

When Nobliss died for his crime of betraying Tekkadan and the greater crime of murdering Orga, yet Ride felt no consolation. Nor the relief that Orga soul would be at ease.

This life was shield by Orga's own body, was this even a life worth living? The media broadcasted the third anniversary of Gjallarhorn's victory over the Devils of Tekkadan. They fed off the carcasses of all of his brothers and sisters, they dared to call this a righteous cause. Ride's rage only grew.

There were some among him who shared the same thoughts, and there were those who didn't. Atra and Kudelia pleaded for him to return and live the rest of days with them in peace. Ride wanted peace, but not this peace filled with lies and deceit. He could not live in the same world that they lived, knowing that Gjallarhorn relished from their sacrifice.

Rustal Elion.

The man who denied took truth and distorted it with lies to suit his position. He chose to make Tekkadan his stepping stone to the end of the Civil War. Even when Orga pleaded with him to surrender. That man didn't deserve to enjoy another second of life.

He wasn't the only one.

The first of these heroes of Gjallarhorn Ride found was Gaelio, thanks to an unknown source.

A pathetic excuse of a man, left in a hospital crippled after the voluntary removal of his Alay-Vijnana implant. He seemed to have expected him yet made no contingency against it.

In his words, "What goes around comes around. My sister's curse is finally fulfilled."

He was the only enemy Ride gave empathy to by delivering a swift death through a bullet to the head.

The next target, he didn't need to find. She came looking for him.

All he had to do was prepare. For she was Gjallarhorn's last ace pilot. But in any ordinary MS he wouldn't stand a chance. So he sought to acquire one that would.

He found such a machine left in a Gjallarhorn storage facility under lockdown. By chance or by luck, he did not know. But upon seeing the Gundam Frame he stole made Julieta lose all her calm and control when he met her in the Ahab-wave breadcrumb trail he left for her to follow.

She screamed her anger of how he defiled its original indigo colours with the colours of what became his "Ryusei-Go V". In memory of Shino, whom she'd thwarted in an attempt to destroy the flagship that Rustal Elion was on. This Gundam apparently had the mark of House Bauduin upon it, it was nice of him to leave such a formidable trinket behind.

His forces occupied her escorts while he overwhelmed Julieta and ripped through her Mobile Suit limb from limb. He had two advantages that trumped Julieta's superior piloting skills, that was the power of the Gundam frame and the Alay-Vijnana system which he could use. All that he could hear on the comms was her repeating the name of the man he'd killed. Perhaps she'd shared some affection for Gaelio Bauduin.

"Now you have the right to say you feel my grief, Julieta Juris." Ride spoke into the comms once more before impaling her open cockpit with a drill lance. Taking another hero of the "free world" for his collection.

Soon, the name "Ghost of Tekkadan" began to spook the network of Gjallarhorn. And how certain high-profile individuals were hunted down by these remnants of Tekkadan, particularly the Seven Stars members and Arianrhod Fleet officers.

It was clear to them who the Ghost's next target was after much death.

The remnants, his remaining family too suffered heavy losses that could not be recovered. Gjallarhorn might be without strategic Mobile Suit pilots, but those despicable Dáinsleif railgun weapons were still a cause of concern as it took more of his family away from him.

But once the last of their Post Disaster caches had been razed, Ride could finally approach the Gjallarhorn Headquarters unchallenged.

"In the end, did you really think this was all worth it?" His eternal enemy inquired, unfazed by the gun pointed in his direction. Despite the forces Ride and the remnants had gathered to raid the base almost too easily. Gjallarhorn had reduced its armaments considerably over the years.

"…" (click) Ride responded with a cock of the pistol hammer.

"Everything that your fellow crew members died for, all that Kudelia Aina Bernstein established from their ashes to achieve a peace between worlds…. Is about to go up in flames." His usual smug look disappeared with disappointment.

"You soil their memory."

The back of his handgun struck the surprisingly tall man off his chair onto the floor. His shoe pressed against Rustal's leg to prevent his recovery.

"I didn't want to cling onto a memory. I wanted them to live!" He aimed both his muzzle and glare at the man who could have made it so whilst still achieving peace.

"…"

The more he showed that look of defiance the more it gnarled at Ride's mind and temperance. All the others, those remaining Seven Stars begged for mercy or pissed their pants. But Rustal Elion, he should be saying as expected of the one who beat Tekkadan and the Gjallarhorn coup d'etat forces with just his Ariadrhod Fleet.

"Heroes never die. And yet when they do their legacy lives on. Kudelia was wise enough to carry that burden and in some way preserve those fragments of their legacy."

"When was the last time you saw "that boy's" son." That smugness returned to Rustal's face.

Ride reached out and pulled his collar forwards. Pointing a murderous glare at the middle-aged man.

"If you dare touch Atra or Akatsuki-…."

"I don't need to handle them. Your actions will ensure what remains of our organisation will go hunting for the remnants, Kudelia and your wiser of friends who faded away into the background."

Ride remained silent for a moment but continued his glare at his target.

"…. This is my war with you, Rustal Elion."

"From the mess you've made it would seem your grudge was against Gjallarhorn." He was not wrong; Ride and the remnants had hunted every single high-ranking member of the organisation and all those aligned to them during Tekkadan's fall. To the public eye, it was pure revenge against all. When will he stop? Who were potential victims to his anger? What would the world be without Gjallarhorn to marshal against the violence and vastness of space haunted by piracy?

Ride let go of him and did not block him from getting up on his own.

Rustal straightened himself and said, "I sympathize with you and your fellow members from Tekkadan. You have waded through suffering and the corruption of the system. You of all people are perhaps the last who will ever know of the things that work behind the shadows and the consequence of such actions that have led to these tragedies in society. That's why…"

He reached out a hand, expecting Ride to take it.

"Join me. So that we may make a new world and find that possibility together."

"Maybe….. I can't change the world or who's behind the system…" Hearing his agreement with his line of thought, Rustal chuckled and reached further to clasp his hand…. Only for Ride to step back and hide his hand.

It was why McGillis failed in his rebellion despite greater cause and authority. Why Orga couldn't be king and Tekkadan could never find their place in the world. People didn't want to change. The system did all it could to prevent it and turn everything against them. And those that supported it, were rewarded regardless of how shameless or devoid of humanity those actions were. What Rustal said was contradictory to his nature of preserving status quo. He was becoming a devil in his own right, even if he refused to acknowledge it. And Devils deserved to die.

Once again, Ride felt that this life Orga protected was not worth his. But it did allow him the time for one last deed.

"But I can ensure you won't be a part of it." His handgun lined up with Rustal once more.

"You-."

"This is for our family." (Bang)

A round found its home buried in Rustal's head. A lifeless body collapsed backwards with a face written with surprise and disbelief.

(Bang) (Bang) (Bang) (Bang) (click)…. (click)… (click)

He emptied his magazine into the corpse just to make sure he didn't get up permanently.

A cold chilling air was exasperated from Ride's cold interior, despite the warm scarf that was wrapped around him.

The chill of the kill. It was this time that Ride was washed with a wave of relief in his beating heart. But the coldness would not go away, it only grew colder.

Ride looked down and raised his hand which leaned against his ribs. "Eh?... Aha… I must've miss that on the way in."

Bearing witness to the bright crimson colours painted across his hand and left hip, the strength of his legs escaped him. Ride collapsed to the ground, his gunshot wound worsening and his breathing becoming heavier, minutes… perhaps seconds away from death.

To think that his last few moments would be alone, he did not feel all that bad. He was going to a place where they were all waiting for him. But….

With shaking hands, Ride pressed the dials on the portable LCS transponder then placed its headset into his ear to hear the dialling tone. No Ahab wave distortions occurred in the transmission, it would seem that the garrison no longer had Mobile Suits left, but then again, the Gundam was wrecked as well.

*Chryse Union office, you have Kudelia here.*

"Kudelia…"

*Ride? Where are you calling from?!* An anxious voice demanded from him on the other side.

"It doesn't matter-."

*It does!*

"…. Ok. Would you believe it if I said at the Gjallarhorn Central Stronghold on Earth?...Haha (cough)."

*Ride… What did you do?...*

"There isn't much time for me so I'll say it now. We've just cut off Gjallarhorn's head…. (cough)(cough)… may this future belong to you and the rest."

*Ride…. Stay where you are, I'm coming to get you!* Ride laughed painfully at her declaration. Come get him? All the way from Mars?

"Even now, you're still thinking of saving me! Damn, I've really thrown you and the guys into the frying pan… I don't know how serious Rustal Elion was when he said vengeance would befall your family."

*…. Can you walk, can you get up?*

"I don't think so, mmm… Kudelia.."

*Yes…. Ride.* Even she seem to got the idea that Ride was not in a situation to come back from, so she indulged him in his last moments.

"You were right….. instead of avenging them, I wasted this life. Chasing a ghost."

Kudelia was silent on the other side, but he was sure she felt him, his tone of grief and sadness.

"Family… Gjallarhorn took them from me. They took everyone! So I took from them everything!"

*Ride- Stop!*

"… But-…. Now….. they'll take no more…." He could feel he was getting closer threshold.

*Ride?...*

"I'm sorry for all the worry I put you through, in the end, you were the last person who even bothered about where I was and what I did. You're just too kind, Kudelia."

*Ride, stay with me!* She could sense he was getting lost.

"Is this what family are like…?"

*Ride!*

"Thank you…. Kudelia…" By now, it was all muffled tones to Ride who lay his back against the wall.

His eyelids were getting weak, body feeling so tired he could fall into an eternal sleep at any moment.

He didn't know whether he would be heard by Kudelia over what appeared to be muffled shouted and cries. Someone was crying on his behalf, someone shed a tear now that he would be gone. At least he would not die without leaving his mark or have someone remember him by.

Poor Kudelia. He added another name to the tablet which rested upon her heart.

"If I could do it all again… I would have done it your way…"

The LCS transponder clattered on the floor from his cold hands. It was at this point that the guards of the stronghold managed to breakthrough into Rustal Elion's office. Only to find that he did not make it, the corpse of a lone assailant resting against the wall with the most satisfied of smiles planted on his rigid face and Rustal's of despair portrayed the most eerie combination.

There was no point to guarding this base any longer. No reason to enforce the space lanes nor settlements. Gjallarhorn, had lost its purpose in the new world and would therefore fade into nothing. There was no reason for the remnants to pursue an empty vendetta, so they too would disappear.

The Ghost of Tekkadan had finally been laid to rest.

….

….

Fin

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Author's Notes:

While doing this only for fun, I've thought about the possibility of turning this into a return back in time kind of story like RaK. Once I'm done with either God of Cookery or RaK, of course. Let me know what you think.


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